Joanne Stanway felt the immense expense of taking Georgia to and from football matches and training whilst she was an academy player.

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Joanne, who is a teacher, was given permission to leave work early in order to take Georgia to her training sessions for Blackburn Rovers in a three hour round trip from their home in Barrow, Cumbria.

She spoke about the financial strain and how it led to her having to downsize their home twice.

Speaking to The Mirror, she said: “There wasn’t a lot of money in girls’ football. In my case, I got a grant of £250 a year from the local council which covered about 10 journeys to training, and then I got about £500 from the county council.

“But it was still hard and I had a good job. I found myself really stretched financially and I downsized twice for extra money.”

But the hard work paid off with Georgia now a huge star for the Lionesses and a starting midfielder for German giants Bayern Munich.

The former Manchester City player always seemed confident that she would make it to the very top though despite what others may have told her.

When an academy coach suggested she should start considering a different career as “only one” player from her academy group would make it to the professional game, Georgia told her mum: “Don’t worry mum, I’ll be the one.”

And she certainly has become a roaring success with the 24-year-old on the brink of winning the Women’s World Cup.

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Georgia has played a part in every game as England have stormed their way through to the World Cup final after beating Australia 3-1 in the semi-final.

She got the Lionesses’ tournament off to a winning start scoring the only goal in their opening clash with Haiti from the spot.

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